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Round 2 the consultation questions
Research Publications: (or MIT publications)
Please consult with the Operations Team prior to creating a project spreadsheet/inventory. You may not be able to answer these questions thoroughly but please come prepared to address these questions and topics.
General:
· TIMELINE: Approximate timeframe on the project: do you have a schedule, presentation, and/or a deadline in mind?
o Are there any events dictating the schedule of the project (presentation, anniversary)?
· STAFF RESOURCES: The sponsoring group has to allocate staff to inventory the collection.
o Do you have student hours to contribute to the project?
o Do you have staff time dedicated to this project?
o
· SIZE OF PROJECT: How many items need to be digitized, total number items, total page count if possible?
· DELIVERY: Will these arrive in one load or by batch? (for storage and process handling) Consider for both the physical and digital items.
· WORK TYPE: If you already have digital copies what type of file formats do you currently have?
· DATE: Date the physical copy made (useful for predicting paper condition and media problems) Date range of content (relates to copyright, which impacts retention of originals)
· INTENDED AUDIENCE
Preservation:
- Are there any rare archives items that require security (locked room, hand delivery) or on-site scanning with libraries personnel present (and space in Archives or Wunsch Lab)?
- What equipment is the vendor using (camera, overhead scanner, sheet-fed scanner), and what are their requirements (picklist, etc.)?
- Are there duplicates? How do we decide which is the best copy if duplicates? (See Ann Marie’s wiki page about Energy reports about preferences in choices.)
- Binding types and approx. percentages of each type
- Bound
- Stapled
- Spiral Bound
- Loose sheets
- Sense of condition – as an overview (we will do further assessment)
- Page count
- Fold out sheets
- Photos
- Fragile Pages
- Reprints, reformatted (these can produce poor-quality images), such as Mimeographs and old photocopies
- Disposition of originals - what happens to the original after scanning: storage, circulating stacks, Archives, discard? (Some options may require items to be rebound, boxes, stapled, foldered, etc.)
- Should Archives review before discarding?
- Who discards copies? Collections Support Unit
Scanning:
- Overhead, sheet fed, requirements for scanning
- Has any part of this collection been digitized?
- If yes, who scanned the items?
- Where were they scanned?
- Where are the digital copies?
- When were the items scanned?
- What specifications were used?
- Full- text searchable
- What dpi?
- Color, grayscale, or bitonal?
Metadata:
- What kinds of “things” do you have in this collection? Examples: events, notebooks, MIT 150 has events, resources and files, Edgerton has notebooks and pages, Whirlwind has reports, RLE has reports, sections.
- What do you imagine for dissemination or publication streams? Flickr, youtube, DOME, DSpace, etc…
- Content Management system in mind or used (IRIS, Archivist Toolkit, Filemaker, Barton, etc…)
- Cataloger in mind?